Yes, civic dum-dums are common to democracy. Winston Churchill said, "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."

But it's demonstrably worse here. Stocktonians love to hate the council; but because of illiteracy, poverty and disengagement, too many exist in a sort of civic anteroom with no window into the halls of power.

They can't tell the heroes from the zeroes. They depend on fliers slipped under the door by special interests, partisans, demagogues and flaming ignoramuses. Or they tune out.

So I drifted over to Hernandez's new office. He was in. He said he established his consultancy to put bread on the table. He created his Strategic Training and Responsible Solutions Political Action Committee, STARS PAC, to groom leaders.

"I want to get the members of the community together to help and inspire our next generation of civic leaders to get interested in the civic process," Hernandez said. "We need good homegrown leaders."

Chamber CEO Douglass Wilhoit, and John Beckman, CEO of the Building Industry Association of the Delta, responded to an Oct. 6 column in which I tore my hair out over civic illiteracy. They are inviting local groups to change things for the better.

The chamber's stake is obvious: Dysfunctional government repels business.

"We have to look to the future," Wilhoit said. "We need to leave this a better place than we came into it. And if that means getting the young people engaged, that's what we have to do."

The BIA - the developers' lobby - has a business motive, too.

Developers' fortunes are tied to government.

Plus, "I expect to live here for a very long time and I want it to be run well," said Beckman.

Wilhoit and Beckman already met. They invited the League of Women Voters, El Concilio and other groups to collaborate. They plan to invite more.

The goal is to bump up Stockton's civic IQ. How is wide open: speakers, mentors, classes, videos, curricula in the schools, whatever.

I told Hernandez about all this.

"I'm in," Hernandez said.

Surely civics classes are one prescription. So I called Steven Lowder, superintendent of Stockton Unified.

"The problem is not only a local problem, it's a national problem," Lowder said. "We've done such a horrible job of teaching civics in national education, we have national legislators who don't understand how government works. At least they behave that way."

I told Lowder I'd be satisfied if more local voters understood Stockton's city manager form of government; knew their council district and council member; could tell a good council member from a hack; identify the main special interests and understand their agendas; know what levers to pull so local government addresses their needs; voted at a higher rate.

This is not an exercise in dry, abstract civics. It is a necessary response to Stockton's bankruptcy and the glaring deficiencies it exposed. Flaws in government by the people can't be fixed unless the people are part of the solution.

"I have never seen a community so manipulated by falsehoods as this community," said newly retired City Manager Bob Deis. "You do have more charlatans than other communities. You combine that with people who are not civic-literate, you have the worst of both."

Further meetings are expected to yield a civics campaign, a sort of tonic for the body politic. If you want in, contact Hernandez at (209) 451-1685.